Globes: Hundreds Cancel Their Haaretz Subscriptions

Globes believes that hundreds of people have canceled their subscriptions for the daily newspaper in the wake of the Kam-Haaretz spy scandal.

By Hillel Fendel

First Publish: 4/13/2010, 5:13 PM / Last Update: 4/13/2010, 5:18 PM

Globes reports that Haaretz has received hundreds of subscriptions cancellations in the wake of the Kam-Haaretz spy scandal, but Haaretz says the numbers are "miniscule."

The main person involved in the affair, second only to soldier-turned-journalist Anat Kam who is accused of stealing over 2,000 classified army documents, is Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, to whom Kam leaked many of them. Blau is abroad and so far refuses to return the documents in his possession.

Globes, a prestigious daily business publication in Israel, reports that the customer service lines of Haaretz have been very busy over the past few days. “Market sources believe that hundreds of people have canceled their daily susbscriptions to Haaretz,” the Globes website reported.

Globes reported that in response to a request to cancel, a Haaretz sales representative proposed waiting for the issue to be clarified, and noted that a legal hearing on the case will be held on April 14. The representative even offered to provide the paper for free over the course of several days until the subscriber makes a final decision on whether to cancel.

At least two Knesset Members from the center-left Kadima party have strongly criticized Haaretz and Blau for their behavior in the case. MK Yisrael Hasson said that he has suspended his subscription to Haaretz, and called on all other subscribers to the paper to do the same until Uri Blau returns all the documents given him by Anat Kam, comes in for questioning, and is fired immediately.”

Hasson said, “One may not break the law and harm the security of the nation and our children, while simultaneously seeking protection based on freedom of expression and the public's right to know." He said he would ask Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin to cancel all Knesset subscriptions to Haaretz.

In addition, Kadima MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich has asked the Interior Minister to use his powers to close down Haaretz. A similar request was made by MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union).